Fire in the Snow
by Gazara12
Summary: Taking place shortly before A Link to the Past, this short story explains why Link is mute, and why Link fights so passionately against Agahnim from the get-go. Oneshot, T for mild language.


**Fire in the Snow**

Snow swirled down from the heavens, masking the land in white. From an eagle's height, the world would have appeared to be a solid white mass. The frozen water seemed to be unbroken and unsoiled for miles on end, leaving the planet in a pristine state.

This was, naturally, an illusion.

Far below the circling eagle, a young man wearing a dark green tunic cover in furs, thick layers of legging, and steady moccasins toiled through the blizzard. On his head was a hat that sat on his head, and normally hung down. In the wind, however, it was stretched out to full length, and threatened to be blown away. One of the boy's hands was on the brim of the hat, firmly holding it in place, his other down at his midriff, supporting a number of logs. His eyes were shut to protect them from the stinging wind, but his face still burned.

Several metres ahead stood a small wooden cabin, with a triangular roof reaching down to the ground so as to stop snow blowing in from the east and west. The snow was piled up on either side so that, had the man approached from any other direction, he would likely not have been able to see it. The building was painted a dull green and brown, but the roof was tiled with aluminium shingles, meaning that in the summer, it shone brilliantly in the sunlight.

With a cry of relief, the boy reached the door, and slammed against it. When the stubborn piece of wood didn't move, the man growled, and took his hand off his hat for a second, which, due to being in the lieu of the house, stayed on as he lowered his left hand to the doorknob. As the metallic orb turned, the boy pushed against the door, and tumbled into the building.

'Bloody hell, Link,' said the boy's uncle as the young man fell flat on the floor, wood tumbling everywhere 'You look terrible.'

'You would too if you got caught out in that storm,' came the muffled grumble from the pile of furs and clothing that was Link. 'Help me up?'

A broad shouldered man with brown hair and browned skin – really, all of him was browned and baked by the sun; even his eyes- reached down, grabbed Link by his collar with a thick, muscular hand, and hoisted him up onto a chair with one hand. Link pretended to gag, and his uncle chuckled.

'So, how far out were you when you were hit?'

'About,' Link gulped continuing to catch his breath, '…about 2 miles… away from Lon Lon Ranch…'

The gruff looking man eyed Link up and down, and said, with a tone of grudging respect, 'You carried the firewood all the way from there?'

'Sure,' shrugged Link, wincing as the frostbitten skin on his neck moved. 'It's only about 7 miles from Lon Lon Ranch to here, and I had warm clothes.'

Alfon sighed, and said, 'You're insane, boy, you know that? Most people wouldn't have managed to survive walking through a snowstorm such as this, and you make it alive after 7 miles, and keeping the wood? I don't understa-'

'Uncle,' Link said heavily, 'I know I'm wonderful, and I'm going to make an amazing knight of the realm, and _blah blah blah_. Could you fetch me something warm? A drink, maybe? I'm freezing to death.'

'Er… right.'

Alfon made his way to the back of the cabin, where the kitchen was located. He reached over the counter to where a coffee brewer, freshly made coffee already inside, sat on the table. He was about to grab it, when Link stuttered, his teeth chattering to re-emphasize his point, 'N-no…not coffee… h-hot chocolate.'

'Ah, yes, of course,' said Alfon, trying to seem as if he'd known that all along. He pulled his hand back away from the coffee machine, and reached over to the kettle. He dunked it into a bucket full of water, and then set it over the fire. The kettle was made of delicately crafted iron, with an intricate design of the Knights of Hyrule's emblem on the side. It was a beautiful thing, that Link had spent hours admiring when he had been younger.

When the kettle began to whistle, Link's uncle took it off of the flames, poured it into a cup. He then took some powder cocoa, poured it in, pulled a silver spoon out of a drawer, and began stirring the mixture, faster and faster, until it was a seemingly solid liquid, still piping steam.

The knight handed it to Link, who blew on it, and laid it down to let it cool a little. He then lifted his feet up onto a table, and said, 'So, Uncle, what's the news in the rest of Hyrule?'

Alfon sighed. He was a brave man, and had no qualms about fighting, but he did not love war, or the destruction that ensued during it. 'The Zora's Domain has been shut off, because all of the entrances have frozen shut. The Gorons and the Kokiri are at war again, they clashed about a mile off of the Zora's river.'

'Damn it!' cried Link, slamming his hand down on the table hard, making the hot liquid slosh around in the cup, and some of it spilled on the table, and touched his hand. Link jerked away, and then continued, 'Pretty soon the King will get involved, and then all hell will break loose, and we'll all be forced to endure the repercussions!'

The older man sighed, and rubbed his hand gently over his temple. He didn't enjoy when people yelled, especially his nephew. In the silence that fell after the outburst, both men heard the faint _clip clop _of a horse riding by, dampened by the raging snow. They both waited until it had died away, and then Alfon said, softly, 'What idiot besides _you_ would be out in this weather, on horseback no less?'

'A king's fool,' whispered Link back. 'It's a good thing that we're practically invisible from most angles, or else he'd have spotted us. And a visit from a soldier isn't a good thing.'

Alfon grunted, and said in a peeved voice, 'Before this _boy_ rose to the throne, the soldiers were looked up to. Knights were the heroes of the land! Now, however, they're just grunts, doing the king's dirty work.'

'You sound like an old man!' Link laughed, grinning at his uncle. "Our king isn't _that_ young. Maybe… 27 or 28."

'Maybe I _am_ an old man,' growled Alfon, punching Link in the arm lightly, only half joking. 'Drink up, you still look like death come to life.'

Link raised the cup of hot chocolate, called, 'To paradoxes!' and put it back. As the liquid ran down his throat, there came a loud knock on the door, and a call of 'Open up, in the name of the king!'

Link choked, and spewed out a spray of hot chocolate, and, with a concerned look at the coughing boy, Alfon slowly opened the door. On the other side were three soldiers, swords slung across their backs, and in full militaristic gear. All three were wearing royal blue tunics that served as their uniform, and as well as their swords, they also held spears. One of the men was riding a horse, an Arabian. Their clothes were totally ill-suited to the conditions, as they were made of thin, light material that looked to be silk, or satin, designed to look fancy, and to be loose and cool in the hot hyrulian summers.

'Y…you,' began the mounted man, his teeth chattering, 'by o…order of the k…king, if a…any-'

'Dear Godesses, mate, you're going to freeze to death!' said Alfon. He currently held a level of disdain for the monarchy, but he was not a cruel man. 'Come in, and warm yourselves!'

'Oh _thank_ you,' said the mounted man wearily, and the three men trooped into the cabin, the mounted man tethering his horse outside before walking in. Link's uncle closed the door, and poured coffee from the coffee brewer into three cups, and handed them out. The three men drank happily, and when they'd finished, Link prodded one of them, and said, 'So, you never told us your names!'

'Er, right,' said the man who Link had poked, 'my name is Private Akhoz. My friend here is Private Grifford, and that's our commanding officer, Lieutenant Reese.'

'A pleasure to make your acquaintances, sirs,' said Alfon quietly, shaking each man's hand. 'So, what bring you to this remote part of the country?'

'We've been instructed by our lunatic king to find all the virgin women in Hyrule, and bring them back to Castle Town,' growled Reese venomously. His two underlings glanced nervously at him during his description of the king, as if they were afraid that somehow one of the senior officers would hear him, and report. 'Either his majesty is one hell of a horny old man, or Agahnim is up to something.'

Alfon perked up, and said, 'Agahnim? He's at the castle?' just as Link said at the exact same moment 'Who's he?' causing them to look at each other, and shrug.

'He's a wizard,' grumbled Akhoz suddenly, his voice dripping with venom, 'Who's a power hungry maniac, and has corrupted the mind of our king. He abducts maidens to use in his foul experiments, and has grown evil and wicked.'

'What,' intoned Link, a tone of shock arriving in his voice, 'he rapes them?'

'No,' murmured Grifford, 'What, exactly, he does is unknown, but rest assured, it's not their _bodies_ that have been violated.'

'What then?'

'Their souls are gone,' whispered Link's uncle, as comprehension dawned on his face. 'Agahnim reaches in and extinguishes their soul… their 'divine spark'…'

Wordlessly, Akhoz nodded.

'How _could_ he?' Roared Link suddenly, rising to his feet angrily, and slamming his fist down on the mahogany table that all of the empty cups sat on, overturning a number of them. 'Agahnim's a bastard!'

'Now, now,' drawled a voice from the shadows of the cabin, 'Name calling isn't nice. I can assure you, my father and mother had no interest in other members of the human race.'

A man with pale bluish skin walked out of the shadows. He wore long red robes, and had the Sheikah's eye painted in neon blue on his chest. Under the red robe was white under-linen, and on his feet were curled red shoes, sort of like the kind the Picori were fabled to have.

'A-A-Agahnim!' gasped Reese, a look of stark terror on his face. He was silenced by the wizard raising his right hand, and shooting lightning from his fingers, striking the soldier dead. Before his body had even reached the ground, Agahnim had already shot two more lightning bolts, killing the two other military men.

'Fools,' he growled, kicking one of the dead bodies in the face, 'I was listening since you mentioned my name. You're a fool. A foolish fool… fool!'

Then he turned to Link and Alfon, and said, with his pointed nose raised in the air, 'I have no time for peasants. Leave or you shall be slaughtered.'

'I would,' mumbled Link softly, 'but we are no peasants.'

'Indeed,' hissed Alfon, reaching up, and grabbed a sword off the wall. He ripped it out of its scabbard, and _Rabane_, slayer of evil, was held point first towards the wicked wizard. Link jumped onto the table, and grabbed two spears that hung on the wall. The soldier's spears would likely have been more effective, but even in a time of danger, he felt taking their weapons would be disrespectful.

Agahnim growled low and long, and then pulled his wrist back, and flicked it forward, three knives shooting out. Two of them pierced the wood on either side of Alfon's head, while the third went flying towards Link. The swordsman twisted to the side to avoid the knife, but it still made a small cut on his throat. Gasping and clutching his neck, Link sank to the floor.

'Agahnim, you bastard!' roared Alfon, and ran forward with Rabane. He twirled the sword over his head, and brought it down in a cutting arc down towards Agahnim's head. Unfortunately, the wizard stepped aside deftly, and the sword slammed into the floor, letting out a ringing noise, and sending a shock up Alfon's arm. As Link's uncle swore wildly, Agahnim waved his hand, and a giant broadsword appeared in his other hand. Gripping it in both hands, he raced towards Alfon, going in for the kill.

Suddenly, Agahnim froze, and then growled, 'Damn it.' He then reached down, and ripped a spear that had suddenly materialized there out of his thigh. Had he not been a being of magic, he would most likely have died. As it was, he simply ripped it out. He took the shaft, broke it over his leg while holding the sword in one hand, and tossed it aside. He then turned in the direction it had come from.

Link lay on the floor, his face sheet-white, but still looking defiant. Blood dripped from his throat, and his hands were shaking violently. He lay supporting himself on his remaining spear. The spear threatened to fall, and he didn't look at all stable.

Grinning, Agahnim raised the broadsword, and raced towards the fallen figure. Suddenly, he was stopped short once more by a warm feeling in his back. Confused, he looked back to see a piece of intricate wood with a black eye sticking out of it. He grabbed the wood, and pulled, and a long piece of metal emerged from his back, followed by a spurt of crimson blood.

Alfon had taken advantage of the opportunity, and had ripped one of the knives from the wall, and had tossed it at the wizard's back. It had slammed in tip first with all the force of his throw behind it, and that was enough to make Agahnim stumble. As the wizard pulled the knife out from his back, a wave of fury went through him.

'You're _not _peasants, are you?' He hissed malevolently, 'You're skilled warriors… You're knights of Hyrule, aren't you?'

'Once,' growled Alfon. 'No longer. Now, get out of our home!'

'Oh, I'll get out.' Laughed Agahnim, closing his eyes 'But not of your home. Just out of a pile of rubble.'

Alfon's face blanched as realization dawned on him. He sheathed his sword, ran past the seemingly unnoticing wizard, grabbed Link, threw him over his shoulder, and dived out the door. He got up, and managed to run about a metre away before he heard a sucking sound. Turning, he saw wind being sucked in through the door. Boughs in the nearby trees bent, and the wind blasted around the hut. Then, for only a moment, everything was deathly still.

Then there was a tired groan, followed by an evil, high pitched laugh. There was a brief image of Agahnim zapping out of the door, and then the building exploded. Vibrant blue and orange flames licked the tilings, the walls… all of it. Parts of the walls and roof had been blown out, and shrapnel landed all over, luckily none of it hitting the duo.

Smoke rose from the building, and more and more parts of the walls started to fall out. Alfon dragged Link back as he heard a hiss as the flames penetrated through the stone flooring. Underneath the house was a reserve of natural gas of which neither man had been aware of, but which Agahnim had noticed instinctually upon entering the building. He had artfully designed his flames so that the initial explosion would not immediately cause the aftershock.

And an aftershock did come. For when the gas caught on fire, the whole entire cavity ignited, and fire shot 50 feet into the air, completely incinerating the building, and, had they been closer, they'd have been scorched. If they had still been inside they'd have been dead.

The flames began to simmer out, and a light ash began to fall, mixed in with the icy white snow. Where the small cabin had once stood, all that remained was withered stone, pieces of both solid and pool of liquid aluminum, and two scared men. After a few minutes, Alfon stood up, Link still over his shoulder, now unconscious. He could not let the shock set in.

'Come, Link,' he whispered, almost to himself, for the boy was not listening. Alfon trudged off into the snow, not caring where he was going, if only to get away.

**2 months later**

Two months had passed, and the most brutal part of winter had passed. Link and Alfon were in Hyrule Castle town, or rather, just outside it. They had found an abandoned house, and had set to refurnishing it. Even after two months, it still looked fairly decrepit. Link's throat had become infected, and he was in bed sick.

It was 2:00 in the afternoon, and Alfon sat in a chair, reading the daily news bulletin that was delivered to all houses in the area. As soon as word had gotten out that two men had moved into the old building, the deliveries had started. As he scanned the page, Alfon saw a name that made him wish to tear the offending piece of paper to shreds.

_Sunday, March 17__th_

_Recent disappearances of virgin women throughout the country have been linked by an anonymous source to court magician and the king's right hand man, Agahnim. The king, when faced with these charges, put them down as being 'unfounded' and 'uncouth', and blamed it on the opposition. This left both protestors of Agahnim's activities and Royal Employees confused, considering the fact that, due to our country being a _monarchy_, there _is_ no opposition._

_In other news, the cabin in southwest Hyrule Field found about a week ago are still undergoing investigation, and some officials believe there may have been an explosion of some sort destroying the buildings. No bodies have been found in the rubble except for a horse, however, it cannot be assumed that there were no casualties._

Alfon lowered the paper, and sighed, 'Damn, we forgot to rescue the horse…' From the other room, there was a faint coughing noise, and Alfon walked into Link's bedroom. The young swordsman lay on a cot, his throat a brilliant scarlet, and his eyes watering.

'U…uncle?' He murmured, his voice raspy, and barely audible. The older swordsman leaned over his nephew, and whispered, 'What is it, Link?'

'I…I've… often won…dered… why…the…wiz…wizard… di…didn't kill…us…'

'I've wondered that too, Link. The only thing I can think of… was that he saw no reason to, or he knew if he tried, there was a chance he might lose.'

'F…fat…chance,'

'He didn't want to take the chance,'

Link nodded silently, and then drifted off to sleep. Alfon sighed, and went back into the kitchen. He dipped a rag in some warm water he had heated earlier over the fire, and brought it back to Link, and laid it on his throat.

'Sleep well, young hero,' he whispered.

'_Well, will he live?'_

'_He'll live.'_

'_Well, that's good.'_

'_It's not all good news, Alfon. He'll most likely end up mute. I wish you'd brought him to me sooner.'_

'_I figured I could heal him myself.'_

'_Damnit, I'm a doctor! What does a knight know about healing?'_

'_You're right, you're right…'_

'_Hey, look, he's waking up.'_

'_Link? Link, are you awake?'_

'_No, he's slipping away again.'_

'_Will he recover soon?'_

'_He should be in perfect health by spring.'_

'_Thank you, doctor… thank you.'_

Link awoke from his dreams to find Alfon leaning over him. His first thought was to say, 'Where am I?' but when he opened his mouth to speak, all that came out was a cough, and muted yell.

Alfon's eyes widened, and he whispered, 'Oh goddesses… he _is_ mute…'

Link's eyes widened. This was _not_ how he had expected his day to begin. As he felt his throat, he noticed the infection was gone.

_I must have been asleep longer than I thought,_ he mused, warding off panic with rational thought. _And if there was a doctor here…_

Link reached up groggily, and grabbed a piece of paper and a quill from a nearby table. He wrote 'how long was I out?' on the page, and Alfon frowned.

'Er… about a month. For a while, we thought you'd succumbed to the fever. After that day in March when we talked about you-know-who, you wouldn't wake up. I eventually went for Dr. Martinez.'

Link nodded, and sighed. He lay back, and slept once more, this time a regular sleep. Right before he fell unconscious, he thought he could hear the sound of a girl calling for help, a cry of distress, and the locking of a dungeon door… a voice on the wind. A prophecy, the kind only experienced after a life-threatening event.

_The Seventh Maiden has been captured!_

Yet outside, naught but snow fell.


End file.
